Share and Learn: AutoUpdating of C# Application.

Updating the software to customers every time manually is gruesome task.This consumes lots of time of effort.

Example consider , releasing a new version within short span of time, or installing it to large no of customers really tough right.

Here i share a simple way of updating the software Automatically.

The main idea behind Auto-updating the software is,

Provide a way to track the latest update available , this can be achieved through updating the version in a Settings file or DB. In this example am using a settings file.
Replacing the setup with a newer version.This can be done in 2 ways.

Probably the easiest one, Set the DetectNewInstalledVersion and ReplacePreviousVersions property in visual studio to true.

Using WMI to read all the software's installed then uninstall the previous version of the application being upgraded. The code is explained below. Note: Add a reference to System.Management object.

Installing the new version ,

First step in creating this application is hosting the settings file.

The best place would be in a server accessible to all the users.

Assuming that u have hosted the settings file in your server "http://myserver/" ,
For the first time , the application has to be installed manually, later on for the next updates setup files can be placed in the server.
lets continue with Coding part.

Creating a form

The form basically consists of 2 labels , progressbar , button and a backgroundworker.

Dwelling into the functionality.

The Application mainly consists of the following functions.

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e).
private void backgroundWorker1_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
private void backgroundWorker1_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
private void btnupdate_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
public void CheckUpdate()
private bool installupdates()
private void unisntall()
private void downloadFiles(string filename)

Lets understand the functions more clearly.

1. FORM LOAD event.

In the form load event , just display the product version.

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            lblversion.Text = this.ProductVersion;
        }

2. ButtonClick event.

This this we trigger the background job to start.

        private void btnupdate_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if(!backgroundWorker1.IsBusy)
                backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync();
        }

3. Backgroundworker_Dowork event.

Here we call the CheckUpdate() to perform the update tasks.

         private void backgroundWorker1_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
        {
            if(!backgroundWorker1.IsBusy)
                CheckUpdate();
        }

4. Checkupdate function

performs the update tasks.

         /// <summary>
        /// performs the update tasks
        /// </summary>
        public void CheckUpdate()
        {
            /// gets the product current version.
            version = new Version(this.ProductVersion);
            DataSet ds = new DataSet();
            try
            {
                /// downloads the settings file containing the version information from the server.
                downloadFiles("version.xml");
                ds.ReadXml(@"D:\test\version.xml");
                backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(40);
                foreach (DataRow row in ds.Tables[0].Rows)
                {
                    /// compares the product version and the latest version available from the server.
                    if (version.CompareTo(new Version(row[0].ToString())) < 0)
                    {
                        ///update available.
                        ///downloads the updates(setup file).
                        backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(70);
                        downloadFiles("application_name.msi");

                        //installs the updates.
                        isInstalled=installupdates();
                        if (isInstalled)
                        {
                            backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(100);
                            ///if u plan to uninstall manually, call this function
                            ///currently not called.
                            // unisntall();
                        }
                        else
                            ///report error.
                            backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(-1);
                        return;
                    }
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(e.Message);
                backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(-1);
                return;
            }

backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(99);
}

5.Backgroundworker progress changed event

         /// <summary>
        /// Updates the progress bar and status of the operations.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        private void backgroundWorker1_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            switch (e.ProgressPercentage)
            {
               case 40: lblstatus.Text = "Checking for updates...";
                    progressBar1.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
                    break;
                case 70: lblstatus.Text = "Downloading necessary components...";
                    progressBar1.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
                    break;
                case 80: lblstatus.Text = "Installing components...";
                    progressBar1.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
                    break;
                case 90: lblstatus.Text = "Removing previous components...";
                    progressBar1.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
                    break;
                case 100: lblstatus.Text = "completing Installation";
                    progressBar1.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
                    this.Hide();
                     MessageBox.Show("Restart the application for the changes to take effect.","Restart");
                     this.Close();
                    break;
                case 99: lblstatus.Text = "";
                    progressBar1.Value = 100;
                    this.Hide();
                    MessageBox.Show("Product is upto date");
                    this.Close();
                    break;
                default: lblstatus.Text = "update failed";
                    this.Hide();
                    MessageBox.Show("Update failed");
                    this.Close();
                    break;
            }

        }

6. InstallUpdates function

        /// <summary>
        /// Installs the new version of application
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns></returns>
        private bool installupdates()
        {
            bool appInstalled = false;
            backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(80);
            ///creates a process to install the process.
            Process p = new Process();
            ///Msi installer
            p.StartInfo.FileName = "msiexec.exe";
            ///parameters to install the application.
            /// /i = install
            /// /qb = basic user interface
            p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/i \"tempfolder\application_name.msi\"/qb";
            p.Start();
            //wait for process to complete
            p.WaitForExit();
            if (p.ExitCode == 0)
                appInstalled = true;
            return appInstalled;
        }

6. unistall function

uninstalls the previous version of the application

         private void unisntall()
        {
            ///selects all installed products
            ManagementObjectSearcher mos = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product");
            ManagementObjectCollection moReturn = mos.Get();
            foreach (ManagementObject mo in moReturn)
            {
                ///checks for the application name and version
                if (mo["name"].ToString() == "setup_name" && version.CompareTo(new Version(mo["version"].ToString())) == 0)
                {

                    backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(90);
                    //uninstalls the application
                    mo.InvokeMethod("UNINSTALL", null);
                    backgroundWorker1.ReportProgress(100);
                    return;
                }
                else
                    continue;
            }
        }

8. Downloadfile function

Downloads the files from the server , "http://myserver/".

        private void downloadFiles(string filename)
        {
            try
            {
                System.Net.WebClient webclient = new System.Net.WebClient();
                webclient.DownloadFile("http://myserver/" + filename, "tempfolder" + filename);
            }
        }

Last step , Creating a setup project.

Follow the steps below.

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Friday 25 April 2014

AutoUpdating of C# Application.